


Trenzalore

by Lilithangel



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-28
Updated: 2013-11-28
Packaged: 2018-01-02 21:16:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1061737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilithangel/pseuds/Lilithangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>On Trenzalore the larger the tomb the braver and more important the soldier buried there. The Commander, the Khan as he was called by his army, doesn’t have his name on a tomb. </i>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Silence will fall when the question is asked. A different question in a story that had yet to finish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trenzalore

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this after The Name of the Doctor before the 50th Anniversary episode aired so it's been slightly Jossed but that's okay that's what fan fiction is for.

“Khan, a ship has been sighted entering the atmosphere, no designation. The pilot is stating peaceful intent and an information trade,” the communication officer announced. 

“Sensors indicate one living being on board,” the sensor operator said.

“Can we detect any weaponry?” Khan said.

“Forward blasters, sonic torpedoes, no sign of powering up. Ports are open,” the sensor operator replied with alarm.

“That’s an old Earth sign,” Khan said, his firm voice tinged with surprise.

“Earth,” the communication officer said, “that’s just a myth isn’t it?”

“You thought I was a myth,” Khan replied. “Eoren,” he added to the communication officer, “advice our visitor to park up in sector three. Max, take a security detail and welcome him to Trenzalore.”

“So tell me about this Khan,” the man shoved his hands into the pocket of his long coat as he strolled alongside Max, “I hear he’s doing good things.”

“Khan is a great leader,” Max replied, “We have been graced by the gods with his presence.” Max hid his smirk from the man. Khan was a good leader but the image of a powerful and ruthlessly commander was something they carefully cultivated. “He is leading us towards a glorious victory.”

“He’s certainly come up with some very ingenious strategies,” the man said. He had willingly submitted to a search of himself and his ship on arrival and hadn’t argued content to fall in with the security detail and look curiously at their surroundings. Max made certain to lead them through unoccupied areas of the garrison. The man seemed harmless but that meant nothing in war.

“He is a master strategist and has won us many battles and saved many lives,” Max continued as they walked. “We would not be as close to complete victory as we are without him.”

Two of the security detail stepped ahead to open the tall metal doors that led to the old reception hall that Khan had converted into the command centre. It was still an imposing place and the visitor paused for a moment to take it in before turning his gaze to the pool of light at the far end of the room. It had once been the throne dais where the king and queen would greet visitors and supplicants alike. Now the thrones had been shoved to one side to make room for a holo-table where Khan stood behind the glowing ball that represented Trenzalore. Khan presented a suitably imposing figure in military green. With a long black overcoat over a strongly built frame he had a blaze of red hair dropping over striking green eyes that were fixed on the visitor.

“You’d be the Khan I’ve heard so much about,” the visitor said striding forward with a grin that didn’t falter under Khan’s glare.

“Just Khan,” Khan said coldly, “it’s a name not a title. What can you do for me captain?”

“Nothing,” the captain said, “except perhaps keep you alive. I do have one question.”

“Please, ask away,” Khan’s voice had warmed slightly to the handsome captain.

“I wanted to know just what you were thinking coming here,” the captain said. His tone was light but the words were enough for the guards to jerk forward.

“Fighting a war and saving as many as I can,” Khan replied waving his guards down.

“Here?” the captain raised an eyebrow. “You know what here is.”

“Of course I do,” Khan replied irritably, “why not here?”

The captain sighed. “You’re lucky I’m here then.”

“Ah my Gilgamesh,” Khan smiled widely, “my loyal Achilles. I should have known you wouldn’t be able to stay away. Do you think you can stop time?”

“We’ve done it before,” the captain said with a loud laugh. “Gilgamesh huh? I thought he was just searching for immortality.”

“That was just the first saga,” Khan replied. “I think it suits you.”

“You know him, sir?” Max asked Khan.

“For my sins,” Khan replied. “Max this is Gilgamesh, a very old friend who can’t help but meddle. Max is my sensor operator and long suffering advisor.”

“It’s a pleasure to be introduced to you Max,” Gilgamesh said, “and you have my endless sympathy. Nice spiel back there by the way, if I hadn’t been pretty sure of who I was going to meet I would have been suitably cowed.”

Khan laughed. “You’ve never been cowed in your life. How did you know I was here?”

“Two rather spectacular ladies have crossed my path over the years and their last visits were to remind me of an old legend,” Gilgamesh replied. “I’m not one to deny a lady anything so here I am and here you are.”

Max couldn’t decipher the looks Khan and Gilgamesh shared but it sobered something between them that took several days to ease. Gilgamesh spent the time getting to know the garrison and the lay of the planet, where the enemy was and where the battles had been. He made friends with the troops flirting shamelessly without any issues when he was rejected. Whilst Gilgamesh really was charming and attractive they all quickly saw how he looked at Khan and how Khan looked at him. 

He poured over strategy with Khan and everyone got used to the two of them leaning over the holo-table arguing. Oddly it was the arguing that seemed to ease the strange tension between them. When Gilgamesh started to challenge Khan’s plans demonstrating a grasp of strategy to rival Khan’s.

Where once Gilgamesh and Khan had roamed the garrison separately now they walked together and it became odd to see one without the other. Despite his protestations Gilgamesh always took defensive positions around Khan and saved Khan’s life several times when missiles slipped through their defences and they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The murmuring began then, that Gilgamesh really was immortal as the stories said he had strived for (Eoren had studied ancient Earth history before joining up. He hadn’t heard of Gilgamesh but knew where to look). Although this Gilgamesh didn’t seem to enjoy his immortality, his eyes were often sad and full of unwanted knowledge.

Khan had come to them when they were on the brink of defeat, initially to convince them to leave Trenzalore, staying on to help when he realised they couldn’t. Leadership had come later when their commanders had fallen and Khan had stepped in to save who he could. He hadn’t been called Khan then but the garrison had many who had embraced their nicknames and they chose not to remember it.

“Why are you here Doc?” Gilgamesh finally asked. “You know the legend.”

“It’s been part of my life for a long time, Jack,” the Doctor replied staring into the table but not seeing the display. “I can’t deny the timeline convergence.”

“Why here?” Jack had to ask. “Nothing important happens here ever.”

“That’s where you’re wrong,” the Doctor said, “everywhere is important sometime and for someone. Why not here?”

“But a commander of an army? Not your usual modus. If I didn’t know for sure I wouldn’t think it was you.”

“I’ve been a soldier before, I’ve fought in wars,” the Doctor replied, “I just chose to not be that person for a while but now I’m him again.”

“Hence the name?” Jack asked and the Doctor nodded. “Well then, let’s make it worth it for someone.”

_Everyone knew it was the final push, that the battle would decide the war and the planet. Khan took the lead with the ever loyal Gilgamesh at his side. Gilgamesh’s used his gift to take the brunt several assaults that would have killed Khan letting the other soldiers fan out further to press forward knowing Khan would be kept safe._

_It was a suicidal plan and few expected to survive but they would hold the line and know that it would be enough, that it had to be enough._

_The enemy were relentless and soon they were forced back but it had been enough to allow Khan and Gilgamesh to reach the apex of the fire plain. Here they would attempt to halt the advance of the enemy completely._

_They all saw the pillar of light that split the sky and halted the battle with its ferocity._

“Doctor!” Jack screamed as he reached through the breach for his friend. The Doctor was in the centre of the pillar of light body wracked with agony. As soon as Jack touched the light he howled with pain but refused to stop even as it began to strip the flesh from his bones. The Doctor had warned him that the light was deadly to humans while failing to mention it was deadly to Time Lords as well.

Grabbing the edge of the Doctor’s coat Jack pulled him free of the light rolling them away from its power. The Doctor was practically luminescent with arcing light his eyes wide open and almost black.

“Doc…” Jack brushed the Doctor’s hair back as the spasms slowly eased. “You sure know how to light up a room,” he joked even as his fingers searched for the double pulse at the Doctor’s throat. “I’m only getting one heartbeat,” he added urgently.

“Yeah,” the Doctor said shakily, “the other one isn’t going so well either.”

“Let’s get you back to the garrison and fixed up,” Jack struggled to pick the Doctor up. “The others are going to be pissed at me for not protecting you.”

“Jack…” the Doctor held up a restraining hand. “We knew this was going to happen.”

“You and I both know time can be rewritten,” Jack said.

“A very wise woman once said to me, not those times, not one line,” the Doctor said, “I can’t regret my life so why would I regret my death?”

“Will you regret anything?” Jack said his face blank.

“Oh Jack,” the Doctor said. “You know I do. If I could fix it I would but know it won’t be forever.”

“Forever is tiring,” Jack said with a short laugh, “I’m sure I’ll cope.”

“I’m sure you will too.” The Doctor smiled fondly.

“Doctor, do you want to die?” Jack asked him as the noise of the battle stopped completely and the universe held its breath.

“I have to,” the Doctor said, “and Jack, you thought my regenerations were dramatic, you might want to stand back because this one’s going to be a doozy.”

“Like that was ever going to happen,” Jack said pulling the Doctor closer.

“You always were foolishly loyal,” the Doctor said and then gasped in surprise. “What is left, take it back to the TARDIS she knows what to do, and Jack…” the Doctor reached up to caress Jack’s cheek leaving a trail of light in his wake, “thank you for everything.”

“You’re very welcome.” Jack leaned into the caress and held back a scream as the light turned the Doctor into a twisting pulsing beam of light brighter than the first.

_The enemy fell back as the breach was sealed just as Khan had predicted. The last of the enemy were subdued and the garrison allowed themselves to celebrate while they waited for Khan and Gilgamesh to return._

_They waited beyond the time Khan had told them, raising stones for the fallen, but neither Khan nor Gilgamesh returned and the place they had gone was too deadly to them so his soldiers decreed him fallen not dead. A Gem of the Heavens was placed on the site of the surrender he was so instrumental in achieving, marking his deeds and the battle. Then they called up High Command and requested extraction. It was only a small war in a larger conflict but the legacy of Khan carried on with the survivors and the legend of lonely Gilgamesh travelled the stars._

Jack watched the garrison depart from his perch beside the TARDIS. They had mourned together and then Jack had left her with the memory of her Doctor, his timeline twisting within her. He knew what would happen over time as did she and he knew it was somewhere he could not return.  
Jack did erect two stones after the battle, one was engraved with name nobody from the garrison would have recognised, and then he dug by hand passageways that nobody would set eyes on until a second silence fell sixty-five thousand years in Trenzalore’s future.  
Then he left with the promise that it wouldn’t be forever and he too could rest.

END


End file.
